Austrian mayor defends spending €40,000 on logo

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An Austrian mayor has come under fire for spending €40,000 on a new logo for Klagenfurt, a city in Austria's poorest province.

The new logo - which uses the same motif as the previous one only in a different colour - was needed to reposition Klagenfurt’s brand as part of the city’s broader plan to reform by 2020, according to the city mayor Maria-Luise Mathiaschitz (SPÖ).

“From visitor cards to building site signs there will be a design that that is identified with the city,” she said.

The new logo designed by the company Smuck, Royer & Die Eins features the outline of a dragon in turquoise, which is meant to represent the city’s Wörthersee lake, and underneath the words ‘Klagenfurt am Wörthersee are written.The previous logo. Pic: Stadt Klagenfurt

Rival political party The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), have complained that the new logo, which appears to be similar to the previous logo only with different font and colours, is a “meaningless waste of money”.

Mathiaschitz defended the cost, however, claiming that the new logo could bring in “savings in the region of six-figures” through centralising homepages and keeping graphic design work in-house, although it is not clear exactly how these could lead to such high savings.

Carinthia is Austria's poorest province, after it was hit by the Hypo Alpe Adria bank scandal that saw the state acting as guarantor for debts of 10.2 billion held by the failed lender.

The financial scandal was blamed on local government at the time that was run by FPÖ leader Joerg Haider, who died in a car crash in 2008.

Mathiaschitz won the mayor seat off the previous FPÖ mayor last year, and the state has since had to ask for financial support from Vienna.